State v. Vessel

TATE, Justice.

The defendant Vessel was found guilty without capital punishment of murder. La.R.S. 14:30; La.C.Cr.P. Art. 817. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

On his appeal, the defendant- principally contends that his written confession was improperly admitted into evidence, and that the murder weapon and other evidence recovered as a result of his involuntary oral statements should also have been excluded as the fruit of a poisoned tree.

The defendant argues that the confession (and the statements leading to the recovery of the incriminating evidence) did not result from a knowing and-…